Can we explain how Fyodor Karamazov came to have such sons?

Why does Ivan call "The Grand Inquisitor" a poem (II.5.4.246)? Why didn't he write it down?

Why doesn't Christ speak in his scene with the Grand Inquisitor (II.5.5.)?

Do humans long for "community of worship" (II.5.5.254)? If so, why?

Why did Alyosha forget that Dimitri had pointed to his neck (I.3.11.156)? Why did he remember in court (IV.12.4.677)?

Did Smerdyakov become Ivan's disciple, or did he make Ivan his accomplice?

What makes Katerina Ivanova vacillate over testifying at Dimitri's trial?

Do we ever doubt Dimitri's innocence?

Why does the Pardoner reveal his motive & techniques to his fellow pilgrims?

Why does the Pardoner connect greed with gluttony, drunkenness, & oaths when he interrupts his tale (pp. 13 - 17)?

Why aren't the three rioters identified by name?

Who is the old man whom the rioters meet?

How is the Pardoner's tale meant to inspire offerings to him?

Is Menelaos persuaded by Agamemnon's tears, or is he only pretending in order to absolve himself of responsibility?

Is Agamemnon right to say (p. 89), "Someone has betrayed me?"

Is Agamemnon a coward?

Does Iphigeneia believe she is the savior of Greece, or does she sacrifice herself for some other reason?

Why does Achilles participate in the sacrifice of Iphigeneia even though he had sworn not to (pp. 102 & 108)?

Is sexual passion akin to the passion of war in this play?

Is "Iphigeneia in Aulis" an anti-war play?

Does "Nothing" in the title actually refer to something?

If Borachio & Don John think Don Pedro is to woo on his own behalf first, then how is their dialog supposed to trick Claudio (II.i)?

At II.ii.43-44, what is Borachio's point in having "Margaret term me Claudio?"

Was it a mistake for Shakespeare to omit a Borachio - Margaret scene?

Do Beatrice & Benedick become more successful versions of Hero & Claudio?

How does the nature of society in Messina threaten the two couples?

How can we forgive Claudio? How does Shakespeare?

Is the battle of the sexes equal in this play?

Should we take the last line of #147 as "at random from the truth" (l.12), or as evidence of recovery?

Who is the "thy" of l. 14 in #148?

Why does the poet think his beloved loves others (#149, l. 14)?

Is the beloved the sort of person likely to be moved by the argument in ll. 11-14 of #150?

In #151, l.5 is sometimes punctuated with a comma after "For," as well as after "me," changing the meaning. Which meaning suits the context of this poem better?

Does #152 seem final? Why or why not?

Why does Cardinal Maria de Allande decide to support Latour for bishop (Prologue at Rome, pp. 277-284)?

Does Cather want us to believe, as Bishop Latour does, that he was saved in the desert by a miracle (p. 293)?

Why does the Mass at Acoma leave the Bishop "with a sense of inadequacy & spiritual defeat (p. 338)?"

Why does the Bishop not discipline Padre Martinez (Book Five, Chapter I)?

Who has the greatest effect in persuading Dona Isabella to testify to her real age: the Bishop, Father Vaillant, or her lawyer (Book 6, Chapter 2; pp. 390-396)?

Why is Father Vaillant uneasy about the Bishop's plan for the Cathedral (p. 424)?

Why does the chronology of the story become increasingly vague?

Why does the whole novel take its title from the last book?

Blog only! If there are no signs of authorial intervention, can we distinguish between Carver's style & the narrator's voice?

Why don't we learn the name of the narrator or his wife or her 1st husband?

Why don't we learn what Robert said about the narrator on the tape (p. 347)?

Why so much drinking?

Why a cathedral and not some other structure?

What is the role of the narrator's wife? Does it change?

Do you think the narrator has changed, or will change, as a result of his experience?

Yet another allegory about writing?

Who is responsible for the blunder?

Was Natashenka in on the plot?

Why so much about writers & writing?

Blog-only bonus question! If the story is an allegory of writing, and Montresor a kind of author, what would that make Fortunato: his character, a reader, a literary rival?

Why are we never told what "injuries" & "insult" (p. 14) Montresor suffered?

Who is the "you, who so well know the nature of [Montresor's] soul (p. 14)?"

What does Montresor's carnival costume (p. 15) reveal about him?

Why does Montresor probe the recess with his rapier (p.19)?

What feelings does Montresor have about his act?

What death is referred to in the title?

Is there pattern & meaning to the many alternations between past & present verb tenses?

What makes it impossible for Lois to get over Lucy's disappearance?

What part do men play in "Death by Landscape?"

What causes the "recognition, or...joy" (p. 391) of the story's conclusion? Is it a delusion?

What would be lost if the story's frame, Lois's pictures, was removed?

Is idealistic confidence in democratic principles based on a "too optimistic view of human nature?"

Is "bourgeois civilization...in grave peril (p. 239)?"

How does Niebuhr distinguish "what is false in democratic theory from what is true in democratic life (p. 255)?"

What does Niebuhr mean when he says (p. 239) that the community requires freedom as much as the individual?

How are the human capacities for evil as well as good derived from the "spiritualization" of human impulses?

If "the simple distinctions between good & evil, between selfishness & altruism...[are] invalid," how can Niebuhr use a phrase like "children of light & children of darkness?"

How can the children of light arm themselves with the wisdom of the children of darkness but remain free from their malice?

Why does Jesus undergo John's baptism of repentence (1:4-9)?

Why is Jesus anxious to prevent "unclean spirits" & others from talking about him?

What is the nature of "the Kingdom of God?"

What is the value of suffering in the Gospel of Mark?

Is there anything anti-Semitic in Mark?

Why does Amory suffer "revulsion" at his first kiss (p. 15; I, i, "A Kiss For Amory")?

Is Amory responsible for corrupting Tom?

Does Monsignor Darcy give Amory good advice (pp. 92-6; I, iii, "First Appearance of the Word 'Personage'")?

Why does "The Debutante" (pp. 145-171;II, ii) begin & end in dramatic form?

Does Beatrice abandon Amory, or vice-versa?

What does Dick Humbird's death (pp.78-9; I,ii, "Under The Arc Light") mean to Amory?

Why does Amory walk to Princeton at the end of the book (pp. 233-248;II,v,"The Big Man With Goggles")?

Is the novel a satire from beginning to end?

How does the title apply to the novel?